Withdrawal symptoms: Obama’s announcement to reduce US troops Afghanistan get mixed reviews.

Speaking of mixed news: Oil is down… unemployment is up.

Gender blender: birth certificates might get sex-change operation.

Shakira tackles the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

An “uncontacted” Amazon tribe is found in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

And Saudi women want to drive … Big Shots in Europe and Arabia are on board.

Thanks to TIME

“Krispy Kreme Goes Healthy”

Few headlines have been more shocking than the one above.

Nonetheless, the story seems to be true. The inventors of the Original Glazed doughnut plan to introduce healthy menu items.

Oatmeal, yogurt, and fruit juice will all be making their way into a Krispy Kreme near you.

But they haven’t given up old habits.

Reports in North Carolina say the company is testing DOUGHNUT MILKSHAKES in three flavors: Original Glazed, Chocolate Cake and Raspberry Filled.

1 Peter 5:1-6 (NIV)

¹ To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; ³ not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

⁵ In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

Reflection:

We’ve all probably heard the term “climbing the corporate ladder”.  In today’s society, there is a mutual understanding of a ladder of leadership in the workplace, and those seeking to move up the ladder eagerly do so with various motives.  In this passage, the Apostle Peter appeals to the church elders to willingly serve and care for those people entrusted to them.  The younger members are also encouraged to submit to the elders; and both young and old are to be clothed with humility towards one another. This exhortation addresses the potential issue of pride and the attitude of superiority embedded in the mindset of the world today; but as Christians, our new identity and vocation as God’s people requires the exact opposite- humility and willingness.  This stands in stark contrast to our former mindset and identity, but this is what Christ, the Chief Shepherd, exemplified during His ministry on earth.  God calls us to live and love one another in this same way as a new people, nation and priesthood.

Responding to the message:

Let’s spend time in prayer asking for more of Christ’s humility in our lives; for “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”  May we exemplify this attitude to one another as we willingly serve and care.

Andrea M. Webster, a graduate student in the environmental studies program at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF), is featured in this installment of the AASHE Bulletin Sustainability Student Diary series. She shares her “Next Steps,” created to guide efforts in the campus sustainability sector toward ensuring that all stakeholders are included in the decision-making process. AASHE welcomes questions and invites feedback on each Sustainability Student Diary entry. Submit diary entries of your own for consideration to bulletin@aashe.org.

As a student who plans to work in the campus sustainability field, I am studying diversity and social justice issues to further my own understanding of the subject matter and to help define an area of the sustainability field that remains unclear for many practitioners.

Most campus sustainability officers understand sustainability as having three interconnected foci – environmental, economic, and social; unfortunately, only the ecological component has been widely adopted. The economic piece has progressed in part, due to the business sector’s acknowledgement of sustainability within its realm. The social side, however, lacks clear definition and a widely understood connection to sustainability. While many campus sustainability officers will say that social factors are included in the definition of sustainability, few can say why or how.

To help arrive at a clear definition and understood connection, important questions need to be asked. To start, why should diversity be included in sustainability? Most, if not all, sustainability advocates would agree that the movement should not be a passing fad; it should be integrated into all decision-making processes and policy-setting agendas. A major goal of sustainability is to ensure that our actions will enable humanity to exist as long as possible. Humanity is made up of people of all colors, and we should include all of them when we teach and practice sustainability. How can we be sure that we are making the correct decisions if all stakeholders are not included in the decision-making process?

In my work with the campus sustainability sector, I plan to use the following “Next Steps” to guide my efforts.

Next Step #1: Equal Access to Sustainability Education

Many campuses have made high-level commitments to increase the sustainability of operations and education, but none have taken a stand to say: “We are committed to sustainability, and we are committed to enabling under-represented students to participate in what we’re doing.” AASHE advanced this effort by supporting the sustainability education of under-represented students through membership discounts to HBCUs and MSIs. Next, individual institutions should make commitments to encourage low income and racially diverse students to participate in sustainability courses and activities on campus.

Next Step #2: Providing Support to Under-represented Students on Campus

In addition to making sure that we openly invite a diverse student body to campus, we should likewise ensure that we are providing adequate resources to keep students on campus. This can be in the form of student organizations (e.g., a Community Pride group, Black Student Union, etc.); campus programming; making sure that all offices on campus are staffed in a similar manner to the diverse makeup of the student body; and preparing all campus members, especially faculty and staff, to be more comfortable dealing with and discussing LGBT, ability, race, class, and sexual orientation. Sustainability practitioners can work with existing diversity offices that are already familiar with these initiatives.

Next Step #3: Evaluating this Support and Making Changes

An important part of making any type of change on campus is evaluating that change. Campus climate surveys offer one method of assessment. Merely offering this survey, however, is not enough. Campuses need to assess the responses and make a plan to address the issues raised in the outcomes. AASHE’s STARS program offers credits for measuring campus climate and for using the results to shape policies on campus. This is certainly a step in the right direction.

In addition to the steps and suggestions listed above, as a future staff person, I plan to always remember that everyone has a different identity than my own. This understanding will help me to relate to others, to choose my words more carefully, and to know when a situation I am participating in or witnessing could be offensive to others.

There was an article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education in October 2010 that referred to both diversity and sustainability as fleeting and competing trends. The president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education wrote an appropriate response: “The combination of diversity and sustainability is not an either-or proposition but a both-and.” Sustainability is an umbrella movement that includes diversity, as well as environmental protection, economic stability, and other social issues.

We haven’t forgotten about diversity; we are revitalizing discussions and actions around it. Now we just need to spread the understanding of its purpose within sustainability initiatives and learn to include and apply it.

Andrea M. Webster, a graduate student in the environmental studies program at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF), is featured in this installment of the AASHE Bulletin Sustainability Student Diary series. She shares her “Next Steps,” created to guide efforts in the campus sustainability sector toward ensuring that all stakeholders are included in the decision-making process. AASHE welcomes questions and invites feedback on each Sustainability Student Diary entry. Submit diary entries of your own for consideration to bulletin@aashe.org.

As a student who plans to work in the campus sustainability field, I am studying diversity and social justice issues to further my own understanding of the subject matter and to help define an area of the sustainability field that remains unclear for many practitioners.

Most campus sustainability officers understand sustainability as having three interconnected foci – environmental, economic, and social; unfortunately, only the ecological component has been widely adopted. The economic piece has progressed in part, due to the business sector’s acknowledgement of sustainability within its realm. The social side, however, lacks clear definition and a widely understood connection to sustainability. While many campus sustainability officers will say that social factors are included in the definition of sustainability, few can say why or how.

To help arrive at a clear definition and understood connection, important questions need to be asked. To start, why should diversity be included in sustainability? Most, if not all, sustainability advocates would agree that the movement should not be a passing fad; it should be integrated into all decision-making processes and policy-setting agendas. A major goal of sustainability is to ensure that our actions will enable humanity to exist as long as possible. Humanity is made up of people of all colors, and we should include all of them when we teach and practice sustainability. How can we be sure that we are making the correct decisions if all stakeholders are not included in the decision-making process?

In my work with the campus sustainability sector, I plan to use the following “Next Steps” to guide my efforts.

Next Step #1: Equal Access to Sustainability Education

Many campuses have made high-level commitments to increase the sustainability of operations and education, but none have taken a stand to say: “We are committed to sustainability, and we are committed to enabling under-represented students to participate in what we’re doing.” AASHE advanced this effort by supporting the sustainability education of under-represented students through membership discounts to HBCUs and MSIs. Next, individual institutions should make commitments to encourage low income and racially diverse students to participate in sustainability courses and activities on campus.

Next Step #2: Providing Support to Under-represented Students on Campus

In addition to making sure that we openly invite a diverse student body to campus, we should likewise ensure that we are providing adequate resources to keep students on campus. This can be in the form of student organizations (e.g., a Community Pride group, Black Student Union, etc.); campus programming; making sure that all offices on campus are staffed in a similar manner to the diverse makeup of the student body; and preparing all campus members, especially faculty and staff, to be more comfortable dealing with and discussing LGBT, ability, race, class, and sexual orientation. Sustainability practitioners can work with existing diversity offices that are already familiar with these initiatives.

Next Step #3: Evaluating this Support and Making Changes

An important part of making any type of change on campus is evaluating that change. Campus climate surveys offer one method of assessment. Merely offering this survey, however, is not enough. Campuses need to assess the responses and make a plan to address the issues raised in the outcomes. AASHE’s STARS program offers credits for measuring campus climate and for using the results to shape policies on campus. This is certainly a step in the right direction.

In addition to the steps and suggestions listed above, as a future staff person, I plan to always remember that everyone has a different identity than my own. This understanding will help me to relate to others, to choose my words more carefully, and to know when a situation I am participating in or witnessing could be offensive to others.

There was an article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education in October 2010 that referred to both diversity and sustainability as fleeting and competing trends. The president of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education wrote an appropriate response: “The combination of diversity and sustainability is not an either-or proposition but a both-and.” Sustainability is an umbrella movement that includes diversity, as well as environmental protection, economic stability, and other social issues.

We haven’t forgotten about diversity; we are revitalizing discussions and actions around it. Now we just need to spread the understanding of its purpose within sustainability initiatives and learn to include and apply it.

Headlines yesterday touted that Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, was the first to purchase ad space in the first caucus state, Iowa. You can see his 30-second spot here.

In fact, the first 2012 Iowa campaign ad ran in November of 2010. The ad promoted the first openly gay GOP candidate Fred Karger.  Despite this indication of his candidacy andhis up-to-date campaign website, little has been said about him.

Even though ads are starting early, this year’s primary will reveal more than just a Republican frontrunner. The relevance of the Iowa caucus is in question

“The weighty question at hand is whether the state will remain relevant in the primary process, and whether it will continue to lure mainstream Republican presidential hopefuls in the years ahead.”

The Republican field appears to be responding to the Iowa Caucus in very different ways.

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has been to Iowa 19 times since declaring his bid for the Republican nomination. Recently, he criticized former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney for not actively pursuing votes in Iowa.

“I think it shows the weakness of their candidacies not to appeal to the broad spectrum of Republicans,”

With 228 days to go, it seems poor Iowans are going to endure more than their fair share political postering from potential Presidential possibles.

1 Peter 2:11-12 (NIV)

¹¹Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. ¹²Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

Reflection:

It seems so easy to become caught up in the daily grind of life, quickly losing our perspective and then starting to see things no different from those around us.  In this passage, we are reminded that as God’s called people, we are actually aliens and strangers in this world.  With our citizenship now established in heaven, we have been reformed by Christ and destined to be part of His glorious plans and future.  This world is not our home, and now we can abstain from sinful desires and worldly enticements as we view things correctly from God’s perspective.  Yes, we can be victorious in this life, and our lives are to be a shining contrast to those who are lost in this world.  In this way, we honor God with our “good deeds”.  May our lives and our actions testify of God’s amazing love to this world!

Responding to Transmission:

Let’s not get too comfortable with the things of the world and continually remember who we are in Christ.  Spend time in prayer today asking for the Spirit’s empowering to live lives that will honor God with good deeds.

Growing up in rural western Maryland, history alumnus Seth Sawyers ’99 couldn’t possibly have known what was in store for him — or how his world would expand — as a student at UMBC. Now a writing lecturer at UMBC, Sawyers shares some of those initial experiences in an essay appearing in The Morning News:

When I was 18, I left the skinny part of Maryland and woke up in a place paved over with asphalt, girded by concrete, nourished by it. I awoke fascinated by the mechanized hum, disoriented, wide-mouthed before the man-made angularity, the downtown steel visible from the top floor of the college library. I woke up that September in the middle of the great flowering of the American Dream. I woke up in the suburbs.

Read the full story here, and link to additional essays by Sawyers.